Ba dum tss is a popular drum fill used to punctuate a bad joke that dates back to the early 1900s, around the same time as the birth of the drum set. Back then, drummers sat behind the curtains or screen, providing live foley for cabaret or silent films. Ba dum tss has been around […]
Archive of posts tagged Drum Beats
Drum Beat Song
What happens when you accidentally give your drum charts to the keyboardist? You end up with the Drum Beat Song. Click on the score to play/stop. The Drum Beat Song is a standard 4/4 Rock Beat at 120 bpm set to music. Using drum notation, the kick drum translates to a low D, while the […]
Phantasm Beats
Most everyone can find the beat, but can the beat find you? Does the beat sneak up on you and trip you as you’re walking down the stairs? Has the beat ever slide-tackled you off the stage? Or perhaps thrown a cymbal at your head to try and decapitate you? Everyone can follow the beat […]
Bada Bing Bada Boom
Italian Americans like to imitate drum beats when they talk. Capeesh? Kapow! Badumcha. They speak a kind of Percussionese dialect, refusing to integrate into their host country. Such is the phrase “Bada Bing Bada Boom” which means a “job well done” and according to my dictionary, is diminutive of a drum roll. But I ain’t […]
Off-beat
Did you ever notice how clock time is counted on the wrong beats? It goes “tick-tock” when it should go “tock-tick”, like drums do. In the popular drum beat, the lower tone kick drum is played on the One, while the higher tone snare drum on the Two. Boom pah, boom boom pah, not pah […]
Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Signal)
The classic Car Turn Signal is a sloppy shuffle. Like a horse walk, the turn signal clip clops along at a swinging uneven beat. Perhaps the turn signal of the automobile was designed to mimic the turning of the equestrian’s steed, harking back to that ole clippity-clop. Compare with the equine version. The Car Turn […]
The Snappy Slap Hand Canter
It’s hand jiving time―time to break out your 3-lined white gloves, just like the kind Mickey and Mario wear (the kind Hamburger Helper Helping Hand is). Roll over the three hands below from left to right. Try it slow. Try it fast. Try it backwards. To get a canter rolling, you’ll need to make counterclockwise […]
